Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:10 Welcome back to another edition of our diason podcast, big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Bishop of Brooklyn. Myself, father Christopher, hen you rector of the co Cathedral of St. Joseph. We begin this podcast as we begin all things in prayer, but we call to mind all the victims of the recent violence in our nation, especially those victims of violence in the two events in Texas, and all other victims of senseless acts of violence in this month of May a month dedicated to our blessed mother, asked for her intercessions, for her guidance, for her protection, for her care. As we pray, hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with the blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of th Jesus.
Speaker 2 00:00:53 Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for a sin now at the hour of our death. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:00:58 Amen. Bishop, it's good to be back. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:01:01 So last week I recorded with Deacon Kevin McCormick. We had fun as we always do, but I think we had a very good discussion and glad to welcome you home. So couple of weeks ago, I was in Rome. Now you had your chance in Rome, but you were there on a communications workshop.
Speaker 1 00:01:18 That's right. I appreciate the opportunity that was given to me to participate in a communications workshop hosted by the University of Santa Croce, which is one of the Pontifical universities of Rome that have a dedicated school of communications. This was a three day workshop, a full three day workshop from eight in the morning until 8:00 PM at night with a few breaks in the middle. But it was an opportunity really to gather communications directors from all over the world. There were people from Bombay, United Arab Emirates, there were people from diocese in the United States, in Latin America, through Spain and Europe. People who worked within diocese, those who worked with religious orders, those who worked with conferences of bishops. Really a universal experience. You know, every time you go to Rome right, you see that, that idea of the universal church, you really do experience the universal church. We think like everything just revolves around Brooklyn and New York City or something like that. <laugh>. But you're there and you, you meet people from all over, which was a great opportunity to discuss the topic was listening and relevance. You know, that listening, this idea of the theme of ity, you know, with our, our Holy Father listening is communicating. It
Speaker 2 00:02:34 Is, it's an important part of communication. And I think that's one of the areas where we as a society fail right now. You look at news and even the so-called conversation or debate kinds of programs, it's really just very directed toward shouting at one another. And there's not an awful lot of listening. It's all propagating.
Speaker 1 00:02:54 That's right. And even as you're talking Bishop, and I'm listening to what you're saying, I'm already prepared for what I want to say. They spoke about that. They said, if you're listening to your faithful, to your people, to your flock, to your diocese as priests or your, are you just listening with the next bullet loaded to shoot out at them? Or are you actively listening? And there was this great line that was mentioned by one of the speakers listening is communicating and not listening is communicating. I thought that was really profound in a way, you know, that when you don't listen, you're, you're also making a statement that we do not heat your advice or we don't respect what you're saying or your input. But, uh, the other aspect of the conference was relevance. How to promote promulgate our faith in a way that's relevant to our current society. This doesn't mean that we change the message, it doesn't mean that we, you know, try to make the message more hip, but how is it that we now reach the people where they are? That's right. I thought that was a beautiful, beautiful
Speaker 2 00:03:56 Time. And that's part of hope, Francis's theme of ity and of accompaniment. It's that we walk with one another, listening to one another so that we can indeed speak the language of the gospel. So there's the eternal truth of the gospel that doesn't change mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But we need to be able to speak it in languages that people can understand, that meet the needs, to understand what the needs of people, because our firm conviction as Catholic Christians is that Jesus Christ is the answer to every human need, and that the encounter with Jesus is at the heart of everything that we preach. It's important to listen to a company so that we know the needs and then can speak the truth of the gospel to apply to those needs. You know, we are in this great season of Easter, and you've heard me say this before.
Speaker 2 00:04:51 I love during Easter reading from the acts of the Apostles mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And isn't that what the apostles had to do very, very early Yes. In the ministry of Christ. You know, this past Sunday we had the institution of the diaconate, and that was in the early part of the acts of the apostles. So first of all, we give thanks for the service of the diaconate and the ways that our deacons here in Brooklyn and Queens and deacons in general, served the church in so many rich and varied and effective ways and tremendously grateful for that ministry. But how did that all start? It started with the controversy, and it started with the controversy of multiculturalism. This, you know, the richness of multiculturalism, but the challenges of it. So, you know, the Jewish widows and the Greek speaking widows were arguing with each other over who was getting attention, and there just wasn't enough attention to go around. But it's just that life is messy. That's not, it's not a judgment on anybody. It's that life is messy. And I don't think it was 20 years after the death of Jesus, because Paul died 30 years after the death of Jesus. So this was in the first 10 to 20 years, they're facing difficulty. They're facing the difficulties of trying to get along with each other. And I was at, uh, St. Elizabeth's, a great parish in Queens, in Ozone Park and
Speaker 1 00:06:17 On Atlantic Avenue. Right. The church
Speaker 2 00:06:19 There in That's right. Just off Atlantic Avenue. And I learned something, by the way, but I'll come back to that. There's a parish that started off meeting the needs of German immigrants. A factory owner who wasn't Catholic actually provided money so that a church could be built because he wanted to attract people to come and work and live in that neighborhood. But the gospel was proclaimed 150 years ago, and then new waves of European immigrants came in. And so it went through all those phases. And then, you know, in the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, parishes like what I remember growing up in where, you know, families were kind of working jobs and doing what they could do to get by. And, and now the new immigration is largely Hispanic, but in every wave there's life. That's right. But it also means shaping and working together. St. Augustine, I use the image, St. Augustine talks about how a church, when it's built, you know, the stones have to be kind of shaven down so that they fit together. But there it is, it's the gospel. The truth of the gospel speaks to everybody, but we sort of have to adapt so that we can meet new people, attend to new needs. It sounds challenging, but it's actually very, very exciting.
Speaker 1 00:07:29 It's absolutely exciting. I think, you know, I came back in a meeting with you this morning and saying how, just on fire I am, how rejuvenated I am. Because you also realize that our struggles that we have here in the diocese and, and just promoting the faith and evangelizing the, the faithful being authentic witnesses, all the, it's not unique to us. It is across the,
Speaker 2 00:07:52 It's across the globe and it's through the ages. Yes. Like I said, from the very beginning all the way through. But you experience that reality right here at the co cathedral of St. Joseph where you're meeting with people. There's a multicultural dimension, but there's also a multi-generational mm-hmm. <affirmative> dimension. We live in an area here where there are new young people walking in with different kinds of attachment to the church. You're working with the young adults. Again, it's taking the truth of the gospel and meeting the needs of each one of those groups. That's
Speaker 1 00:08:24 Right. That's right. And it's, it is exciting. I appreciate the opportunity to, to be there. The name DeSales Media is very well known in the circles of communicators, especially those United with Santa Crochet, because we've had some priests come from Santa Croce who've studied and worked in DeSales. But even across, uh, our country, the men and women that I met who work within the United States, they all know and have heard of DeSales Media and say to me, how blessed you are in the Diocese of Brooklyn to have this television channel, this tablet periodical one
Speaker 2 00:08:57 Of the few Catholic newspapers remaining in the, uh, in the country. In
Speaker 1 00:09:01 The country. I wanted just to mention that to you, Bishop, especially on this DeSales media sponsored podcast that we say to give thanks to God for the blessings, you know, that we have, again,
Speaker 2 00:09:13 Really hitting this theme, but again, it goes to relevance. So it's meeting the needs of Brooklyn and Queens in print, in television, with recordings and, uh, short videos with podcasts. Yeah. It's, it's a great richness, but the truth of the gospel is just being proclaimed using all the media old and new. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:09:34 No, I, I think it's, again, thank you for allowing me that opportunity. When I got back on Friday evening and, uh, hit the ground running Saturday, we had our first communion retreat for our nine, uh, young boys and Girls First Communications, who made their first communion on Sunday. And so it was great. It was really exciting.
Speaker 2 00:09:53 Is that terrific? Wow. Congratulations to all of them. Yes. In my own travels around, this was a very big first communion weekend, and thank you, Lord, because it was a very beautiful week at both Saturday and Sunday. Some have a communion coming up next week. Yes. Unfortunately, if you had it last week with the pouring rain, and it's just that it makes life Yeah. More complicated, more difficult. Actually, I was down recording at the grotto at A Lady of Grace, but I had to go back because of the rain. And the second graders were walking over to go to mass and, uh, first communion practice during the week. So I got to see them. I had visited the school earlier in the year, and yeah, all of a sudden I'm down in the gro, I could hear a little kid say, it's the Bishop
Speaker 3 00:10:38 <laugh> <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:10:43 And so we, it was, it was great. It was a great encounter. But they're all excited. And so I hope that this was a wonderful weekend for so many of our families celebrating first communion. And I hope it was a beautiful encounter for these young people with the risen Lord Jesus. Yeah. And that's, that experiencing Jesus in the richness of the Eucharist and the beauty of the day might begin something in them. You know, often when I talk about my vocation, I, I, I often talk about just always wanting to be a priest. It was very late in life that I started to realize this, but I remember getting this missile, you know? Sure. It was a false leather black missile. It had the gold leaf pages and, but in lots of photographs. And I just remember being fascinated by the reality of the Eucharist. I don't know that I understood it completely. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but I knew it was Jesus, and I was fascinated. I was fascinated. I hoped that sense of fascination rubs off on a lot of our children. Amen. And that fascination invites families into a deeper relationship with the Lord to the Eucharist. Our children can inspire us in so many ways.
Speaker 1 00:11:52 I often find, you know, at first communion that I like to preach, but I find first communis very difficult in the beginning of my priesthood to preach, because I was trying to relate a message that was to the children. And then I realized as I was preaching to the children, really the ones who were listening, they, the children were listening. But you're really engaging the parents in those moments, in ways that you're catechizing them. As I said to the kids this Sunday, I said, look at how well dressed you are. And there's this one boy in a beautiful tuxedo, and we're right across the street from a McDonald's here. I said, do you wear that tuxedo to McDonald's when you go to McDonald's? You know, you always dress up in that tuxedo. And I said, look at your parents. They're all dressed up today too.
Speaker 1 00:12:33 It, it's, it's awesome to see how well presented you are for this day. And I think just in all of that, you're helping to catechize the children. You're helping to catechize the parents. They're encountering Jesus Christ in the same way that their children are as well. So it is a blessing. And as we reflect on the acts of the apostles, we see the, the early church growing. And when you get nine kids today, you know, or this past weekend here, and many other churches are much larger first communion classes, you know, I thought this is a symbol of the church growing. This is the symbol of the church growing slowly. And
Speaker 2 00:13:08 You go from generation to generation. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Now, those who didn't have first communion this week, those who had last week, a lot of them brought their children back. That's right. For the May crowning. So, um, I was with a pastor this week who told me that they had had, earlier that day, a may crowning, and I joked, I said, well, it gave them another chance to get photographs since it was so lousy last week,
Speaker 1 00:13:30 <laugh>. And they wear these, they bri this beautiful dress or this suit. I mean, you might as well get the two opportunities That's right. To wear it.
Speaker 2 00:13:37 That's, that's right. And then I'm going to participate in and make crowning with De Sales Media, with our Office of Evangelization and our Office of Catholic Schools. This is a tradition. I know Bishop DeMaio used to do it as well, where we focus in on a school or a religious ed formation program. This year it happens to be in Flora Park. Uh, our Lady of the Snow, we'll have the main crowning. But again, there seems to be that connection. I remember it as a kid too, with like the first communion kids, the celebration of Mary during the month of May. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:14:08 It's also very beautiful opportunity. So May this month is generally dedicated to our blessed mother in the month of Mary, you know, Bishop, you, uh, over this past year and, uh, more, you've started this tradition of doing these Sunday reflections on Facebook. And generally, you know, we find a, a nook here at the co cathedral, but we're also have been taking it on the road. And now for the month of May each week, you're going to be present at a different Marion garage.
Speaker 2 00:14:34 That's right. So I kind of mentioned last week I was recording at a Lady of Grace. I had to go back because I was there for confirmation Sunday. That was the intention. But it gave me that chance to go back, and that's when I saw the second graders. So there's always a reason. Right? Yeah. But they have a beautiful grotto there at A Lady of Grace. While I'm at a Lady of the Snow this week, I'll have the chance to record Sunday's reflection at the, uh, shrine there. And in the coming weeks, we have some beautiful shrines to our blessed mother in both Brooklyn and Queens. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:15:05 Very exciting for us too, just to kind of give a differentiation of our Sunday reflections. You know, you can give a chance to see on your Facebook page. You were able to check in during the dos and pilgrimage, the Lenin pilgrimage, and a lot of comments were brought up on those photos. Wow. Bishop, you know, we have such beautiful gems in our diocese, and it's a nice way to illustrate, you know, and to show people the different places that are,
Speaker 2 00:15:30 That's it. I mean, there's a rich history, but there's a living history that's continuing to go on. And so it, it's nice to be able to show, uh, or for our people to experience some of the beauty of our churches and the expressions of the faith. So
Speaker 1 00:15:43 Bishop, I think it, it is important to use this moment to catechize, especially the podcast is meant for that. It's a conversation with, you hear about what's going on in the diocese, what's going on in, in your ministry. Why is may such an important month for our blessed mother?
Speaker 2 00:16:00 We always turn in our eyes toward our blessed mother during this month. And that's a great thing. You know, for us as Catholics, we don't worship Mary. We honor Mary, we venerate Mary. Mary brings us to Jesus. She has that tender maternal love for us, and she's a powerful intercessor for us. One of the great things we talk about, the different Marion Apparitions and in, uh, this podcast, we've spoken about some of those devotions in a very directed way. But all of those devotions have the same theme. Marion appears at a particular time, particular place in a time of need. Very often when people are struggling, you think of Fatma will be having the World Youth Day in, uh, Portugal during a time of war, world war. So in struggling needs, Mary appears, why though, to direct us to Jesus. And then, you know, I'll bring my Irish out. One of the things that I love about our Lady of not, Mary doesn't say a word. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I think I've joked on this place before. Mary doesn't say a word or not because I don't think she can get a word in among the Irish
Speaker 1 00:17:12 <laugh>,
Speaker 2 00:17:14 But Mary doesn't say a word. But Mary and John the evangelist appear and she points to the lamb on the altar. It's a Marion apparition, but it's actually a Eucharistic mm-hmm. <affirmative> teaching. Mary directs our vision toward the lamb, toward her son. So, um, that's really where our Marion devotion comes in. Now, a devotion to Mary, we can know that we can count on her as a tender mother, but that she will always lead us to Christ. What she did in the very beginning by saying yes to God, she brought Christ to the world. She continues to bring Christ to the world, and she brings the world to Christ. Sure. Yeah. Another image I love is the wedding. Feasta Cana Mary brings the couple in need, or actually the wine stewards in need to Jesus, and she brings Jesus to them. And so Mary does that for us. Even today in our devotions and in our prayers and even our prayer, we start off with Hail Mary, full of grace. What is that really a prayer about? When you stop and go through the words we're asking Mary to pray with and for us, holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us. Sin is now and at the hour of our death. Amen. We're asking her to pray with and for us.
Speaker 1 00:18:32 I like the image of she brings you to Jesus and Jesus to you, or, you know, brings the need to Jesus and Jesus to the need. That's a very beautiful reflection. I always do think, you know, when we celebrate the month of May and October two, traditionally is also month of the rosary. The rosary. I think if someone, and I've mentioned his name before, I believe in this podcast as well, but someone that you knew very well and that I had a great respect for who prayed the rosary, what, twice, three times a day. Can you do you know, tea?
Speaker 2 00:19:04 McDonald's? That's right.
Speaker 1 00:19:05 McDonald.
Speaker 2 00:19:06 You knew him in the seminary days when he would do the circle, he'd go out during the day and just pray the
Speaker 1 00:19:11 Rosary. And, and I always thought, just an honor to, to see his great love for our blessed of mother. And there are parishes in our diocese too, that are participating in this month of May doing rosary rallies and spiritual bouquets of, you know, dedicating X amount, uh, thousands of rosaries for this, this
Speaker 2 00:19:30 Right. You know, in many of our parishes before mass, there'll be a group of people before or after mass praying the rosary in church. I remember again, you, you talk about the various cultures. When I was in Long Beach between the Colombian immigrants in May and the Filipino immigrants in October, the whole month ha had people coming together to pray the Rosa Rosary again, just the richness of faith that's here and the richness of the expression of the faith here in Brooklyn and Queens and Long Island. But that great love of Mary, and again, that trusting Mary to bring us to Jesus, to help us keep our eyes fixed on him.
Speaker 1 00:20:11 I often talk with Christian mothers and lead them to recognize Mary is the Mother par excellence. And when we celebrate this coming Sunday, mother's Day. That's right. Really what, what a beautiful example that is. That Mother's Day falls in this month of May, the month that we dedicate to our blessed mother. But Mary really is, I mean, Mary was perfect. She was conceived without sin. So what a great example she is for all mothers and all Christian women.
Speaker 2 00:20:42 And so yes, we celebrate Mother's Day. It's always the second Sunday of May, but boy, it's all the way to May 14th. That's about as late as you can go be the second Sunday. Sure. We celebrate Mother's Day. You and I have the great blessing still to have our mothers with us. And so I take this opportunity to say Happy Mother's Day, to my mom to say thank you to her and to say thank you to God for her.
Speaker 1 00:21:09 And I do the same. Mom. Happy Mo Mother's Day from your favorite son, <laugh> <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:21:16 Well, now that may stir some controversy.
Speaker 1 00:21:19 We'll see. <laugh>, I have the microphone. You're the only, that's
Speaker 2 00:21:22 What I was gonna say. You're the only one that has a microphone. And you know, I think of the role of my mother growing up and the sacrifices that both my parents sure made for us. I always used to joke that in order to go to Catholic high school, we participated, you know, we had paper routes. We contributed somewhat and felt pretty impressed with ourselves that we were contributing somewhat sure. To the expenses of a Catholic high school and felt a sense of ownership and a sense of pride. And that was good. So at one point, three of us had paper routes. We delivered. Newsday was an afternoon paper at the time. Three of us had paper routes and they were large paper routes. But the joke is that yeah, three of us had paper wraps, but I think it really meant my mother had three paper wraps.
Speaker 1 00:22:05 <laugh>,
Speaker 2 00:22:07 You know, we were only able to do these things because when we came home from school, everything was ready, sorted,
Speaker 1 00:22:14 <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:22:14 Ready to go in the rain, we'd get the ride in the station wagon where the, the back lid of the station wagon, we would open and we'd be, be able to run back and forth to the houses, or that we could sometimes stay late after school. We'd be able to cover one another. You know, my mother would come pick us up from school. When I look back, I think of the things that I did or I accomplished, and I said, wow. It was really the guidance and the assistance Yeah. Of my mother and my brothers and sisters will say all the same.
Speaker 1 00:22:45 One of my fondest memories with my mom as a child was praying the rosary with her. And this was not something that we did every day. It may have just been a handful of times in the house, uh, at night for whatever purpose, you know, she would take out the rosary beads. She knew there was a need, whatever the needs that she felt of the family. And, uh, I just happened to be sort of a, a participant in it. When I see young families praying the rosary, I think, you know, it's awesome. I I hope that those kids now will one day as they grow up, look fondly on those memories as well.
Speaker 2 00:23:20 I agree. You know, my experience was, I think we were more individualized about praying the rosary. We were encouraged to do it, but not doing great displays of faith. But there was great faithfulness. So we prayed Sure. At daily meals. We always prayed grace, we always prayed going to bed. I remember that very, you, you know, you have a father of the Hail Mary. The glory be, and the, the God bless. Wow. And you had the litany of God bless and you name everybody. But I have very clear memories of my mother pulling out the rosary and praying. Or like if we were down at, at the beach or something, she might take the rosary and go for a walk or something like that. And we used to joke among us because she'd be praying often for one or another of her children and for a particular need with the children. My mother always connected the rosary to the needs of her children. That that's what stands out in my mind. Wow. Of course, when we get a little irreverent among us, we, as my brothers and sisters and I, we would kind of joke back and forth, well, who's causing mom to say more rosaries? <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:24:25 It must be, it was never you. I'm sure
Speaker 2 00:24:27 <laugh>. Well, you'd have to ask around. We <laugh>, we always blame the youngest. But I think, uh, if you could make a case across the board,
Speaker 1 00:24:35 <laugh>, but they are, they're, those are the memories, you know? And, and thank God we've had them. You know, and, and I, I look at the memories I had with my grandparents that I ever had the chance to meet was my mother's mother, my maternal grandmother, you know, and living in Ireland. And I'd meet her, see her every summer we'd visit. She had a pile of prayer books that she just kept on the dining room table. And she just sat and went one prayer book after the next, after the next stopped for the mass on the radio, have lunch, do the rosary, back to the prayer books, stop for tea, you know, have dinner. And, and it was just, her life was just revolved around prayer. And that was because she was not very mobile at the time. And that, that was how she dedicated her later years in life, was dedicated to prayer. And those were great visual memories. And also as a young teenager, to see someone so dedicated to prayer, I think also did help inspire my vocation.
Speaker 2 00:25:32 Beautiful. Beautiful. My memories of my grandmothers, uh, are very strong because my, both my grandfathers died very early on. My, my one before my parents were even married. The other one I was about, um, four years old. So the grandmothers were a very, very big part of our lives as children. They, they, they both continued to work here in the city here in one in Brooklyn, the other, in the Bronx. Eventually both in the Bronx, they would be out every weekend. Big, big part of our lives. And that was always a big treat to when the grandmothers came. Yeah. It was just, just a great thing. So, you know, this is a chance for us to, on the podcast, then to wish all of our listeners very happy Mother's Day. And I know that each of us are marking the day in a different way.
Speaker 2 00:26:18 Some of us giving thanks for our moms and the experiences and memories and a chance to be able to say thank you. Some people reaching out from a distance to reconnect and offer that many of us offering prayers for our moms who have gone before us and who, like with Mary, are trusting in the intercessions, that continued maternal guidance, guidance and prayers, asking the moms to pray for us along the way. And then to all the mothers who are listening, happy Mother's Day to you. Congratulations on this day and thanks for all the sacrifices you make. This may be a bittersweet, it may be a time of sadness with grief, or may be some mothers who feel somewhat alone know that you're appreciated by a church that draws its life from your prayers, your example, and your hard work. We think of mothers like the mother of Saint Augustine, Saint Monica. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, even through your tears, you nourish the faith of the church. So happy Mother's Day one and all.
Speaker 1 00:27:26 Amen. Bishop, perhaps you can give us your blessing. Sure.
Speaker 2 00:27:29 Happy to do that. And during this time of Easter, and now especially in May, we pray Regina Cherry, where the church is calling out to Mary to join with her in Joy in the resurrection of her son, queen of Heaven, rejoice, hallelujah. The Son whom you merited to bear, hallelujah has risen as he said. Hallelujah. Pray for us to God.
Speaker 1 00:27:52 Hallelujah,
Speaker 2 00:27:53 Rejoice, and be glad over Virgin Mary. Hallelujah. For the Lord has truly risen. Hallelujah And May Almighty God bless you and all your families in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Speaker 1 00:28:05 Amen. Once again, a very happy Mother's Day to all. We thank you for listening to this edition of the Big City Catholic Podcast. We hope you have a great week and we'll join you again next week. God bless.
